> Hi all,
>
> I need to be able to take messages that have been saved from Outlook
> (*.msg) and read them into a C# application (think of it as workflow
> management). But these msg files are pretty funky.
> All my research only turned up stuff about Automating Exchange and MAPI
> which I know nothing about. I would prefer in this instance to think of
> it more as a "black box" scenario where I can have a nice managed
> library where I can load a msg file and have nicely exposed properties
> about the message. We would then save the important information
> (sender, subject, body, importance) to a database table and discard the
> actual message file.
>
> I can pay for such a component if it exists, but can develop one with
> the right guidance as well.
>
> Can you please provide advice to help me solve my problem?
>
> Many thanks,
> Steven Nagy

> Hi Steven,
> I had to deal with *.msg files as well a while back. Turns out they are
> actually so-called compound files (a single file containing several
> streams/subdirectories).
> First you need the StgOpenStorage(Ex) function from the ole32.dll to
> open these files, then
> you can use the IStream/IStorage Interfaces to work with the contents
> (IStream is already implemented in the .NET Framework, IStorage
> unfortunately isn't).
> I can't release the classes I created to work with these messages, but
> I can provide you with my IStorage-Interface and StgOpenStorage
> definitions, hopefully these will enable you to open the *.msg files
> and take a look at their contents.
> Its actually pretty straightforward from there, certain properties are
> always stored in certain subdirectories/streams, so you need to figure
> out the names of the streams you need and read their contents.
> For further assistance with the IStream/IStorage interfaces you can
> take a look at the msdn, they are pretty well documented.
>
> Sincerely,
> Kevin Wienhold
>
> Definitions:
>
> [ComImport,ComVisible(true)]
> [InterfaceType(ComInterfaceType.InterfaceIsIUnknown)]
> [Guid("0000000b-0000-0000-C000-000000000046")]
> public interface IStorage
> {
>     [PreserveSig]
>     [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Error)]
>     uint CreateStream(
>     [In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string pwcsName,
>     [In]  int grfMode,
>     [In]  int reserved1,
>     [In]  int reserved2,
>     [Out] out UCOMIStream ppstm);
>
>
>                 [PreserveSig]
>     [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Error)]
>     uint OpenStream(
>     [In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string pwcsName,
>     [In] IntPtr reserved1,
>     [In] int grfMode,
>     [In] int reserved2,
>     [Out] out UCOMIStream ppstm);
>
>
>     [PreserveSig]
>     [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Error)]
>     uint CreateStorage(
>     [In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string pwcsName,
>     [In] int grfMode,
>     [In] int reserved1,
>     [In] int reserved2,
>     [Out] out IStorage ppstg);
>
>
>     [PreserveSig]
>     [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Error)]
>     uint OpenStorage(
>     [In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string pwcsName,
>     [In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Interface)] IStorage pstgPriority,
>     [In] int grfMode,
>     [In] string[] snbExclude,
>     [In] int reserved,
>     [Out] out IStorage ppstg);
>
>
>     [PreserveSig]
>     [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Error)]
>     uint CopyTo(
>     [In] int ciidExclude,
>     [In] Guid[] rgiidExclude,
>     [In] string[] snbExclude,
>     [In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Interface)] IStorage pstgDest);
>
>
>     [PreserveSig]
>     [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Error)]
>     uint MoveElementTo(
>     [In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string pwcsName,
>     [In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Interface)] IStorage pstgDest,
>     [In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string pwcsNewName,
>     [In] int grfFlags);
>
>
>     [PreserveSig]
>     [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Error)]
>     uint Commit(
>     [In] int grfCommitFlags);
>
>
>     [PreserveSig]
>     [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Error)]
>     uint Revert();
>
>
>     [PreserveSig]
>     [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Error)]
>     uint EnumElements(
>     [In] int reserved1,
>     [In] IntPtr reserved2,
>     [In] int reserved3,
>     [Out] out IEnumSTATSTG ppenum);
>
>
>     [PreserveSig]
>     [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Error)]
>     uint DestroyElement(
>     [In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string pwcsName);
>
>
>     [PreserveSig]
>     [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Error)]
>     uint RenameElement(
>     [In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string pwcsOldName,
>     [In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string pwcsNewName);
>
>
>     [PreserveSig]
>     [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Error)]
>     uint SetElementTimes(
>     [In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string pwcsName,
>     [In] ref FILETIME pctime,
>     [In] ref FILETIME patime,
>     [In] ref FILETIME  pmtime);
>
>
>     [PreserveSig]
>     [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Error)]
>     uint SetClass(
>     [In] ref Guid clsid);
>
>
>     [PreserveSig]
>     [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Error)]
>     uint SetStateBits(
>     [In] uint grfStateBits,
>     [In] uint grfMask);
>
>
>     [PreserveSig]
>     [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Error)]
>     uint Stat(
>     [Out] out STATSTG pstatstg,
>     [In]  uint grfStatFlag);
>
>
>
> }
>
>
> [DllImport("Ole32.dll")]
> private static extern int StgOpenStorage
> (
>     [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string wcsName,
>     IStorage pstgPriority,
>     int grfMode,              // access method
>     IntPtr snbExclude,        // must be NULL
>     int    reserved,         // reserved
>     out IStorage storage    // returned storage
> );
>
> Steven Nagy schrieb:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I need to be able to take messages that have been saved from Outlook
> > (*.msg) and read them into a C# application (think of it as workflow
> > management). But these msg files are pretty funky.
> > All my research only turned up stuff about Automating Exchange and MAPI
> > which I know nothing about. I would prefer in this instance to think of
> > it more as a "black box" scenario where I can have a nice managed
> > library where I can load a msg file and have nicely exposed properties
> > about the message. We would then save the important information
> > (sender, subject, body, importance) to a database table and discard the
> > actual message file.
> >
> > I can pay for such a component if it exists, but can develop one with
> > the right guidance as well.
> >
> > Can you please provide advice to help me solve my problem?
> >
> > Many thanks,
> > Steven Nagy